


the fool

by girlsonthetv



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Molly Interacts With Kiri, Right Before Hupperdook, Tarot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-15 22:02:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15422544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlsonthetv/pseuds/girlsonthetv
Summary: The Mighty Nein takes a break on a long, hot day, and Mollymauk reads Kiri’s fortune.





	the fool

It was a hot day, far too hot to drive the horses all day without a break. Far too hot to sit in that cart all day with the sun beating down on them, overbearing. They had long since shed any extraneous layers, Molly being the last to part with his long coat. The minute Jester spotted a lake not terribly far off the road, they knew what they had to do. 

They led the horses to water, where they weren't stupid enough to not drink, and Yasha promptly retreated to the shade, followed by Caleb. Beau and Jester splashed about in the water, laughing like children. Nott was in the shade, too, showing Kiri how to properly use her dagger. 

Yes. Kiri. If there was one thing Mollymauk knew, it was not to work with animals or children. In the circus, sure, but especially when fighting dangerous monsters and even more dangerous people. If they didn't find a home for her soon, she would die. That was clear. He didn't want to become emotionally attached to her and then have her go down. That just wouldn't do. 

"You can't just swing it about wildly, you'll hurt yourself." Nott was explaining a little ways off. She demonstrated a quick stab-twist-yank maneuver that was probably very easy for her but less easy for a four-year-old bird girl who was only so coordinated. Kiri gave it her best effort, but at the end of the day four-year-olds were not equipped to fight, even if she was more mature than the average human four-year-old. Nott sighed, sweat dripping from her brow. "Alright, maybe we'll just take a break for now." 

Kiri promptly headed over to the shade, flopping down near Molly seemingly without realizing it. She scooted into a more comfortable position before realizing who she was sitting near. Kiri looked down at the grass and chirped apologetically. Molly ignored her, as usual. As the minutes went by, Kiri's preferred playmates occupied, Kiri's gaze slowly shifted to Molly's hands, where he was shuffling and reshuffling his deck of stained, well-worn, much-loved tarot cards. They made a soft noise as he did this, and Kiri began to mimic it until Molly abruptly stopped and offered the deck to her. 

"Pick a card?" Molly asked. Kiri cocked her head and chirruped, her interest captured. "These are special cards. They tell the future." He couldn't say what possessed him to do this, but there were few things more fun than entertaining kids with magic tricks before the circus was ready to perform. They were so easily impressed. 

Kiri looked up at him with big, shining dark eyes before picking a card and flipping it over. A man in jester's garb, dancing at the edge of a cliff. "This first card is The Fool. The number zero. Empty - yet holding infinite possibilities within it. It represents you. It can become anything, given time." 

Kiri listened closely, awe written on her face. "Anything, given time." She said in his voice. That was the other reason he had never really gotten close to her - he couldn't get used to that. 

"That's right." He said nonetheless, making a swift recovery. He plucked the card from her grip and placed it on the grass. "Anything at all. Pick two more cards.” 

Kiri picked another card and flipped it over, placing it next to the first. A grand wheel with animals and flowers adorning it - “The Wheel of Fortune. This card represents your path, and it means that greater forces are at play. You’re a blank slate full of potential, and the fates will guide you along your path.” Kiri’s eyes gleamed. That was a somewhat charitable interpretation of the Wheel of Fortune, but Molly didn’t want to rip all of Kiri’s hope from her. He wasn’t heartless. 

Kiri looked at him with bated breath as she drew the third card. “The outcome - the Nine of Cups. You will enter an environment where all comforts are available to you, and you can let your guard down.” Gods, he hoped that was the case. Kiri deserved that much. 

Kiri nodded. “I am very sweet.” 

Molly chuckled. “Yes, you are.” He ruffled the girl’s head feathers, and they sat by the lake together. Kiri gave Molly his cards back, and watched him shuffle them back into the deck before resuming his idle shuffling and re-shuffling. As he did, he thought back to when he had first come to the circus. 

When he had first met Gustav, he had asked him to pick a card, and Mollymauk had also drawn the Fool. Gustav told him the same thing he had told Kiri. Zero could become anything, given time. Molly usually just told people what they wanted to hear, but remembering Kiri's joyful expression, he felt that tickle in the back of his head that told him his pretty words might not be bullshit. 

He thought that maybe, just maybe, he and Kiri were more similar than he thought. Empty in different ways, their previous lives all but dead to them. Molly never had a childhood; Kiri’s had been forcibly torn from her with the loss of her parents. Molly had no memories; Kiri had a load of sad ones. 

Molly wondered which one was better, if either of them. He supposed he preferred having no memories to only having sad ones, but did it really matter? What was the use in dwelling on things as transient and shallow as memories when they could focus on the here and now, making new ones? He nudged Kiri, and she squawked and looked up at him. 

“Want to go swimming?” He asked with a grin. Kiri nodded. 

Molly wasn’t one to look back on the past, maybe because he didn’t have much to look back on. Maybe that would change as he spent more time with these crazy people. As he floated in the cool water, his coat safely on top of the cart where it couldn’t get wet, he closed his eyes and thought of The Fool.

**Author's Note:**

> shoves two of my favorite characters together in fic since they don’t interact in canon
> 
> this became more bittersweet after episode 26 but Whatever. I’m fine you’re fine everything’s fine


End file.
